The Libertarian Party 2012 presidential convention will be in Las Vegas, May 4-6, 2012.  This is the earliest the Libertarian presidential convention has been since the 1992 presidential election, when the national convention was in September 1991.  The latest Libertarian presidential convention was in 1996, and was in early July.

The 2012 date and location were chosen by the Libertarian national committee on November 21.

The two major parties recently have been holding their presidential conventions in early September of the election year.

No political party has previously held its presidential convention in Las Vegas.  Other cities that bid for the 2012 convention were San Francisco and Dallas, with a last-minute proposal for Ontario, California.

On November 18, former Virginia congressman Virgil Goode accepted an appointment to the Constitution Party’s national Executive Committee.  See this story.  Goode had been elected from the Charlottesville, Virginia area to the U.S. House as a Democrat in 1996, and re-elected as a Democrat in 1998.  In 2000 he was re-elected as an independent candidate.  In 2002, 2004, and 2006, he was re-elected as a Republican.

Goode has been somewhat involved with the Constitution Party ever since he left congress.  He has spoken at several Constitution Party national meetings during the past two years.

The Goode appointment may be somewhat analogous to former Congressman Bob Barr’s appointment to the Libertarian Party National Committee a few years ago.  Although Barr said when he was appointed that he had no interest in running for public office as a Libertarian, in early 2008 he changed his mind and did seek the Libertarian presidential nomination, and of course he became the nominee.  Perhaps Virgil Goode will be the Constitution Party’s presidential nominee in 2012.  Thanks to ThirdPartyDaily for the link.

A group that hopes New York city Mayor Mike Bloomberg will run for President as an independent in 2012 has set up www.runmikerun.com.  The site contains a good collection of you tube videos that show Bloomberg speaking.